Arlene Martel
| birth_place = New York City | death_date = | death_place = Los Angeles, California | series = I Dream of Jeannie | character = Sonya Tiomkin | episodes = "Russian Roulette" (Season 1) | website = http://www.arlenemartel.com }} Arlene Martel (14 April 1936 - 12 August 2014) appeared as Sonya Tiomkin, a Russian cosmonaut who visits NASA and falls into the possession of Jeannie's bottle, and temporarily becomes her new master (or mistress), and also gets the hots for Tony in the Season 1 episode of I Dream of Jeannie titled "Russian Roulette" (episode 13). Arlene is well known to Star Trek fans for playing Spock's bride-to-be, T'Pring, in the original series second season episode titled "Amok Time". Career Forty years after her role on Star Trek, in 2007, Martel appeared as a Vulcan Priestess in the fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, directed by and co-starring Tim Russ. Concerning her role as T'Pring, she said: “I was just so happy to be working and playing a part that was so challenging in terms of what I had done before,” in Tom Lisanti’s 2003 book Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties. “I had no idea it would continue to this day. Fans purchase my Star Trek photos at conventions, where I sign autographs. I had no idea that T’Pring would be so memorable to people.” Other Roles In her career prior to 1964, Martel was billed under her maiden name of Arlene Sax or Arline Sax. The latter is the name she was billed under when she appeared in a 1960 episode of The Rebel called "The Hunted" opposite Leonard Nimoy. She also used that name when she made her film debut, in the 1964 mystery The Glass Cage, which was one of her few movie roles as a leading lady. She was billed as Arline Martel in the "Demon With a Glass Hand" episode of The Outer Limits. Additionally, she has occasionally been credited as Tasha Martel, as in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica episode "The Long Patrol", in which she played Adulteress 58. She had a recurring role as French Underground contact "Tiger" on the television series Hogan's Heroes from 1965 through 1967, though she later played two different characters on the show. Her first episode of Hogan's Heroes, her first as a character other than "Tiger". Arlene has also appeared on such shows as The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Route 66, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mannix, and Gunsmoke, as well as such sitcoms as My Favorite Martian (starring Ray Walston), I Dream of Jeannie, and Bewitched. She appeared alongside David Opatoshu and Blaisdell Makee in "Terror", a Marvin Chomsky-directed episode of Mission: Impossible. She was the female lead in the 1968 action film Angels from Hell. Her few subsequent film credits include Chatterbox (1977) and Dracula's Dog (1978). She also had roles in three of the Columbo TV movies: The Greenhouse Jungle (1972), Double Exposure (1973), and A Friend in Deed. Personal Life Martel attended the (then) Performing Arts High School in New York, on which the movie Fame was based, graduating in 1953. She later studied method acting and was a member of The Actors Studio. She remained friends with Sidney Lumet and Anthony Quinn throughout their lifetimes. Martel lived on the west side of Los Angeles when she first moved there, and for a time lived on Martel Ave. in West Hollywood. She appropriated the street name, and became known as Arlene Martel. During her third marriage, she became known off-screen as Tasha Martel Schoen. Arlene was been married three times, and has three children. She was also an animal rights activist who worked with Last Chance for Animals to prevent the selling of dogs and cats for medical research, and has recently appeared in an HBO special investigative report on this subject. Death Martel died from complications after suffering a heart attack at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, her son, Jod Kaftan, told The Hollywood Reporter. Gallery Russian_Cosmonauts.jpg|Arlene as Russian army cosmonaut Sonya Tiomkin (left) with fellow cosmonaut Major Posnovsky (Richard Tilden) in the episode titled "Russian Roulette" in Season 1 Arlene_Martel_Star_Trek.jpg|Arlene in her role as T'Pring, Spock's bride to be, in an episode of the NBC-TV series Star Trek titled "Amok Time" in 1967 320full-arlene-martel.jpg References External Links * Arlene Martel at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) * Interview at blankmaninc.com Category:Actors Category:Guest stars Category:Real People Category:I Dream of Jeannie